Racing to an End just so I can… start another End

On By Rhys FordIn Bloggy Stuff10 Comments

I’ve got about another 35K or so left to do on 415 Ink. Or at least I hope so because the book has to end. All books have to end. Or at least the writing part of them should. I believe the best books are written as if the reader is sliced into the characters’ lives at a certain point and then end at a satisfying enough point the reader is okay with the writer leaving them there BUT they know the story—those lives—continue on.

Or at least that’s what motivates me while I write.

So as I tighten up the threads I untangled for Rebel, 415 Ink’s first book, I have to look at what will be another ending for me… the final Sinners book.

I have mixed feelings about ending this series. Unlike Cole’s last book, there probably will be no going back to Miki and Kane. I might do an off the cuff novella about Con and Forest to wrap up a couple of loose ends but the core central couple of M&K will be finished at the end of Sin and Tonic.

It’s not bittersweet. Not yet. It might be at the end of S&T’s word count when I’m stabbing the last few words out on the keyboard and moving the cat’s ass so I can hit the shift button.

I probably will go back to the same music I listened to in Sinners for the soundtrack while writing S&T. We’ll see. 415 Ink has a shit ton of Soundgarden, Toadies, Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and then a bunch of pounding classic rock like Whole Lotta Love, Black Betty, and others. Music flavours words for me. I need that spice in the back of my head while I write. It also helps me focus.

Someone asked me… well more than a few someones… they ask about what KIND of music Sinners/Crossroads play. My answer always is; I can’t answer that. I never will answer that. Their music should be a personal choice for the reader. An intimate selection of sound to flavour the words I’ve written for the band. You have to decide that for yourself, find the beat you need for those words to come alive. However, I do have a good idea on what Miki looks like on stage…or rather how he comes alive there.

So, I’m going to leave you with Hyde and his band, Vamps, so I can contemplate endings, words and probably move yet another cat ass intruding on my keyboard.

Celebrate the Fourth of July with Dreamspinner’s $4 ebook Sale!

On By Rhys FordIn Heh1 Comment

All imprints! All ebooks!
From July 4 to 5, all ebook novels are $4.

(Sale is set to begin and end based on
Eastern Daylight Time.)

Dreamspinner: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
Dreamspinner Press is an international full-service publisher of gay romance based in the United States of America, publishing several genre categories and eBook formats and paperbacks, as well as audiobooks and foreign language translations. The press now operates three imprints: Dreamspinner Press, specializing in gay romance; Harmony Ink Press, devoted to LGBTQ+ Teen and New Adult fiction; and DSP Publications, a boutique publisher of specialty genre fiction.
(Most of my books can be found here, including the Cole McGinnis series, Sinners series and my recent release, Dim Sum Asylum)

DSP Publications: https://www.dsppublications.com/
Off the Beaten Path. Worth the Journey.
DSP Publications is a boutique imprint producing quality fiction that pushes the envelope to present immersive, unique, and unforgettable reading experiences.
We choose stories that beg to be told, tales that depart from mainstream concepts to create fantastic and compelling journeys of the mind worth your time and effort.
(This is where the Kai Gracen series is. As well as Ink and Shadows)

Harmony Ink: https://www.harmonyinkpress.com/
Positive LGBTQ+ Teen and New Adult Fiction
Harmony Ink Press is an imprint publishing Teen and New Adult fiction featuring significant personal growth of unforgettable characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. We seek strong, authentic voices telling thought-inspiring stories with positive outcomes that explore all the facets of young adult, teen, and new adult life—between the ages of 14 and 21—across a wide range of subgenres. Our published works reach into a wide range of reader-favorite genres, including fantasy, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, and more.

 

 

$1.99 Amazon Sale on Rhys Ford’s Dirty Heart AND Mad Lizard Mambo

On By Rhys FordIn Heh

If you haven’t grabbed the final book in the Dirty series featuring Cole McGinnis and Jae-Min Kim OR Mad Lizard Mambo, the second Kai Gracen book, you can grab them on Amazon for $1.99. Two books for under five dollars.

Link to purchase Dirty Heart • Link to purchase Mad Lizard Mambo

AND if you’ve not already gotten these, don’t forget the custom Dirty Ringtones set from Greg Tremblay!

Download them for Android and Apple

Dirty Heart
Former LAPD detective Cole McGinnis’s life nearly ended the day his police partner and best friend Ben Pirelli emptied his service weapon into Cole and his then-lover, Rick. Since Ben turned his gun on himself, Cole thought he’d never find out why Ben tried to destroy him.

 Years later, Cole has stitched himself back together. Now a private investigator and in love with Jae-Min Kim, a Korean-American photographer he met on a previous case, Cole’s life is back on track—until he discovers Jeff Rollins, a disgraced cop and his first partner, has resurfaced and appears to be working on the wrong side of the law.

As much as Cole’s fought to put the past behind him, he’s soon tangled up in a web of lies, violence, and death. Jeff Rollins is not only trying to kill Cole’s loved ones, he is also scraping open old wounds and long-forgotten memories of the two men Cole loved and lost. Cole is sure Rollins knows why Ben ruined all their lives, but he isn’t looking for answers. Now Cole is caught in a cat-and-mouse game with a cold-blooded killer with the key to not only his past but his future.

Mad Lizard Mambo

Kai Gracen has no intention of being anyone’s pawn. A pity Fate and SoCalGov have a different opinion on the matter.

Licensed Stalkers make their living hunting down monsters and dangerous criminals… and their lives are usually brief, brutal, and thankless. Despite being elfin and cursed with a nearly immortal lifespan, Kai didn’t expect to be any different. Then Ryder, the High Lord of the Southern Rise Court, arrived in San Diego, Kai’s not-so-mundane life went from mild mayhem to full-throttle chaos.

Now an official liaison between the growing Sidhe Court and the human populace, Kai is at Ryder’s beck and call for anything a High Lord might need a Stalker to do. Unfortunately for Kai, this means chasing down a flimsy rumor about an ancient lost Court somewhere in the Nevada desert—a court with powerful magics that might save Ryder—and Kai’s—people from becoming a bloody memory in their Merged world’s violent history.

The race for the elfin people’s salvation opens unwelcome windows into Kai’s murky past, and it could also slam the door on any future he might have with his own kind and Ryder.

 

Stuff and Things

On By Rhys FordIn Bloggy Stuff5 Comments

I keep thinking about blog posts and what to write in this space. It’s hard sometimes because there’s the “author” face and well, there’s real life.

Real life happens. And right now I’m rambling as I think of what to say here. Wording is hard. There are times when it is difficult to find the flavour of what I’m saying. And then there’s the stupid things that intrude on my mind when I’m writing… an irritation because the world presses in.

I’ve had a kink under my right shoulder blade for about a week. It’s driving me insane because the tightness can’t unlock. That’s a constant annoyance because it feels like something I could get rid of if I just turned the right way. Like a lock pick on my bones and muscles.

I’m also going to expand on some ink. I have to go talk to Rob down at Flying Panther  to work on a piece he did nearly two decades ago. Which is crazy. I need to get it started way before I go home to visit my mom in Hawai’i because it’s got to be healed enough so I can get into the water. Which is kind of funny because my daith piercing wasn’t healing (the first time I’d done it) until I went swimming at Four Miles and then after that, it was all… ah, salty home waters!

Go figure. But no sense chancing that.

Working on a contemporary now… the first book in the 415 Ink series and it’s a lot easier not to kill someone in this. So maybe I’m just all murdery in Los Angeles.

Whatcha all up to? It’s freaking hot here but today it’s heading back down to the 70s and next week will be downright chilly… kind of awesome because I like writing in colder weather.

 

Writing 415 Ink and Editing Tramps and Thieves

On By Rhys FordIn Bloggy Stuff, Music

Double….um.. I was going to say fisting but those aren’t the kind of books I write. So let’s just say tag teaming. Sort of.

A fourth way into the first book of the 415 Ink series and the edits for Murder 2 came in so it means a brain shift and voice alteration… which is a pain in the ass because it’s hard to fall into the noir if I’m entrenched in another tone.

So… music. There’s always certain songs or themes I listen to when writing. This helps me focus. For Tramps and Thieves, a lot of pure vocals and dirty music. Blues dirty. Rasp.

Here’s a track from the selection I listen to while writing Rook and Dante, it’s Lindi Ortega and her cover of Folsom Prison Blues.